Daily Trust (Nigeria): IICD Artists in Residence Open Studio

The Daily Trust ran an article on the artists taking part in the International Art Residency programme of the International Institute for Creative Development in Abuja and their meeting with Professor Jerry Buhari – whose work I really like and who is as kind and generous a man. The article quotes him saying that

'In sharing ideas here, we connect not just on art, but globally, culturally, and are looking at the diversity of experience and differences in geographical experiences.

I started by showing one of my performances which is one of my current directions. In ‘Man and Earth,’ I was exploring the relationship between the human and environment where I picked elements like prayer, ablution and so on. The whole idea is to cause man to see the need to realize that he is a gardener.'

In case you're interested – and happen to be in the vicinity of Abuja : IICD's artists in residence have open studio on 19 November 2016 from 3pm at 4 Oguda Close off lake Chad Crescent, Maitama Abuja.

Signature Gallery, Abuja

On my way back from Lagos to Maidguri I had another stop-over in Abuja and I used the day there to meet up with Hussein Akar, the owner of Signature Gallery in Abuja. He wasn’t around when I first popped by on Thursday on the way from the airport to Ella’s place but I was able to make an appointment for the next day. I was a bit nervous about meeting him because, despite the recommendation to see him by his uncle at the Signature Gallery in Lagos and Nabil’s friends, I wasn’t really quite sure whether I had enough questions for him to justify disturbing him. However, it turned out to be a really useful and interesting discussion. In fact, he was kind enough to call one Zaria graduate during our conversation to pass on one of my questions and provided me with his number and that of somebody at the Society of Nigeria Artists before I left. At the same time, his emphasis on Zaria graduates, Lagos as an important place of residence for artists from different parts of the country and also the art market, his suggestion that it might be more fruitful to go via galleries and the Society of Nigerian artists then local art schools in the north itself left me a bit insecure about my own approach. But maybe, because I am anyway not really satisfied with how I conducted things here in Maiduguri, this is a good impulse to further review and change my approaches … But this is something I will have to discuss with my supervisor first.

Abuja

I’ve been in Abuja for a few days before but didn’t really enjoy it last, so apart from a chance to see Ella, a friend and recent graduate from the Department of Creative Arts here in Maiduguri, I wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. Even more so as I was hoping to attend the opening evening of the exhibition at Terra Kulture of the works that have come out of the British Council workshop in Kano I attended before Christmas. The exhibition entitled ‘Celebrating the Traditional Crafts of Northern Nigeria’ was held at Terra Kulture, a culture centre with restaurant and exhibition space on Victoria Island, Lagos. But couldn’t leave Maiduguri early because I was hoping to attend an event at the National Gallery of Art (NGA) branch here on 16 February and stopping over in Abuja made it impossible to reach Lagos in time. In the end I could have easily left earlier as the Saturday Art Club at the NGA didn’t take place, but that I only found out at the day itself. Anyway, I spent three nights in Abuja where I stayed with Ella and her family. And, while my primary objective had been to obtain a letter of clearance from the head quarters in order to use the archive and storage of the NGA in Lagos – being in Lagos anyway for the exhibition I can as well make the most of this say - Ella and I also visited some more art related places – in particular, the exhibition at the Arts and Culture complex and signature gallery. In addition Ella also tried to show me some of the places in Abuja she likes and/or thought would interest me. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time but still managed to get some lovely Italian style ice cream – the first proper ice cream I had since I’m in Nigeria –, go out one evening for snooker and some drinks, in effect the first time in months that I stayed out longer than my nine o’clock curfew here in Maiduguri, and visited some of her friends and family that are based in town … oh, and as they have a pretty reliable power supply where Ella stays in Abuja I also managed to watch most of the second serious of Ugly Betty, and if you’d seen how I was glued to that serious in London you’d know what that meant to me!!! So, yes, while I’m still not really a fan of Abuja this time I really enjoyed my stay – basically, thanks to Ella!